With the bath going on, Sarey led him to wash her back and vice versa. Time went fast, and before Allan knew it, he was cleaned and wore a loose robe on him. It was, in a sense, a different kind of clothing that he wasn't used to, but it wasn't so bad. Outside of the bathroom, he already knew the direction to his room, but there is still one thing Sarey didn't leave out today.
A brand new method that 36 left out for her. At least somewhat new, considering the general structure of his pages. Some acupoint pressure points of the human body are better untouched and 36 know better than that. Initially, Sarey was rather curious about them, but as she moved on with the pages, so did these points.
Everything acted as 36 determined from his research, where structural acupoint needles needed a consistent arrangement on the human body. He knew what to expect, but he can't do so himself. That's where Sarey came in, while... she made some mistakes, but it was passable, and nothing bad ever happened. Not the worst, at least.
It was also believed that everything was in the hands of the universe, as each living body had the same amount of acupoint points that could be used. Be it the dwarfs, humans, or the beast kind who lived on many planets in the universe. Of course, it considers the human-like systems, and unlike dragons or similar beasts, it was relative and simple.
Sometimes outside of their reach of understanding, but all of them had this thing in common. No one understood why this occurred. It's a thing of evolution, or the amount of time for bodies to evolve caused this to happen.
Sarey went outside the bathroom, as her cleaning took longer than Allan's. Her usual wavy hair was still straight from the water. Similar to him, she wore a loose robe so she could get to bed too. This was a tradition Zigmund had taught her. Although, in truth, his time in the military was rather different. When one was in the surroundings of his buddies, one could forget common sense. Bathing naked and sharing some beer was as common as he would think so.
The home was different, and he became accustomed to this different life. Of course, he didn't want to have a daughter like that. That would make it weird. No way. She should have a proper upbringing, as a daughter should. He believed in what he heard his buddies of war talk about. Some had families to care for, while many shared it with each other. One had to care early on for their children, otherwise, they would become wild.
It wasn't like he was very keen on this idea, but he eventually went with it as his wife left for him for whatever reason.
It was only unfortunate that from the very beginning, his daughter wasn't as he anticipated. No change would come from the distant past, as all Zigmund could do was admit to the present. His daughter was her own person, while the wild nature would happen, unnoticed by his care. Perhaps the past would hold something different if he did things differently, but the past had already happened. What he always thought to be difficult times could one day be a precious memory. After all, his daughter will most likely leave him one day, as the child shouldn't strive with parents for their whole life.
Like nature, where bird left their younglings to fly and care for their lives, it may not be so different from humans.
Sarey never know of this like that, as she had her own mind. Not like she didn't care about her father, but her priorities in life were always her own. The reason was hers, and one of the precious memories she had with her mother. That was a small secret she always remembered from her, that she never told her father. She used to tell her to not tell her father about it, and she never did. Even to the present day, she remembered.
“Fate is a strange one, my dear daughter. Having one's fate in one's grasp is the same as having your defining life on the line. It can go as you wish, while nothing else could even matter. It's the same with me and you. Even your father is like that. Making life yours is what matters. That's how we are supposed to live.”
Remembering these words was what Sarey did every day. Whether she was unsure about her life or anything, it helped her a lot.
In the silence of night and rest, Sarey glanced at Allan's bare back. It kind of seemed much cleaner than before, but at this point, she was unsure what she was even supposed to see. Perhaps it was her eyes that seemed weird today, or her view of his body was no longer the same as before.
In her hands were 36's pages which had a lot of drawings and diagrams of the human back and almost all the other parts. Be it leaner or not, drawings would come to life according to human bone and muscle structure. Since the bones stayed mostly true until death, the matter of diagrams depicted the movements of the surrounding muscles. Be it around the bones, joints, or knuckles, it mattered.
Allan didn't know how much he has grown since his time in his homeland, nor he was too curious about it. He got stronger for sure, but he wasn't the kind to notice the differences. Sarey followed the instructions and inserted the needles across his spine, all the way to his bottom and thighs. This one was a bit different diagram from usual, but 36 said it was supposed to be like this since he started this second training. He didn't even tell her about the reasoning, which made Sarey a bit upset. She could only hope that this could work, and not make some trouble.
“Hm? Why are there only 14 needles left? I should have much more.” She looked at the paper in her hand again and the diagram was done. From the top of the neck, all the down to the back of the thighs. Apart from her buttocks, which had no needles, everything she was supposed to do, she did right.
“It won't be enough if I will be doing anything more complex diagrams than this. 36 even told me about some which involve hundreds of needles. It's well beyond this current diagram, but still... Have I forgotten them somewhere?” She mumbled and counted one more time. It was the same as before.
“Whatever. I thought this set had much more. I will have to buy another one if I had to.” she guessed, mumbling as she wished because Allan was long asleep. It was the same old game of him, falling asleep the moment after the insertions.
Sarey's simple problem was not caring too much about the count or needles themselves as she was inserting them, or pulling them out. Doing everything in the swift and precious movement, she was already used to this.
Unknown to her, it was all being eaten up by the creature residing in Allan. There was no malice in this, as it was a natural reaction of soul-fire when Allan's body was internally stimulated. Only a few, but over time, the number moved up until she finally noticed it. She had no way of knowing this, as she never noticed it. This possibility was outside of her mind.
Her curiosity towards the Little Fire was honest to the bone, but she would never guess it was because of it. Sarey even saw it eating the receding flames in the furnace when Allan forged his three pieces, but that was about it.
That night, she didn't expect to discover something like that at all, and it even wanted more flames. What was she supposed to do with that? Feeding the soul-fire shouldn't be something simple, as she had no idea about it. It was in her mind that she will ask 36 about it, in one of her discussions in later days.
Seeing Allan so calm and asleep, Sarey let a deep sigh out. There was nothing apart from acceptance as she was done.
She no longer spoke her mind or sat on top of him. Laying by his side, she will spend a little bit of time here until she gets the needless out.
Glancing towards the ceiling and Allan from time to time, her mind wandered through her memories, and present time, until the time was up. Seeing no difference this time with counting, she assumed there was some loss of them when she was open-minded and careless. Storing them back in her box when she pulled them out, she counted right.
In her mind, nor Allan's, none had any idea of the flowing speck of flame inside Allan's heart. This was a rather minuscule version of the soul-fire, but not the kind that would move mountains and shatter volcanoes from its birth. It resembled an igniting flame. A needle-thin, or this time, like a flame of the candle.
There was nothing apart from this, apart from the fact that it had stranding lines of silvery light around it, while many lines of veins and mist were scattered around it. Blood circled as normal with no obscurities from the soul-fire as if this wasn't one kind of thing in the universe. What was happening was very spiritualistic, and the involvement of a high grade of energy was the cause of everything.
It was sleeping there as if it had its fill of something. Having the meal, or the utmost desired victory, the soul-fire was victorious, while the new home of it wasn't so bad.
Glancing for the last time at Allan, Sarey left his room. Her sleep was important to her as caring for Allan, yet she spent her own time with him.
There was nothing strange about this silent night outside of this home. Some animals around the dark forest moved swiftly and the sound of owls made them quite eerie. Everyone was awaiting the new day which will happen in more hours.
There was nothing strange about that, but there was something else that made the surroundings quite hectic. Even the owls flew away, while something awoke some deer bears and boars who ran away. The occurrence that caused this was within the cottage where a sleeping blind boy lay on his back. He was shaking uncontrollably as if he was undergoing a barrage of attacks or a panic attack.
It was questionable if it was his whole body or the tense muscles on his back that made the shaking. It resembled the trembling earth when undergoing an earthquake. It went from his core back to his muscles. A sheer amount of strength broke Allan's bed.
He fell down as the frame couldn't keep its structure. Yet he remained asleep with a pleasant smile on his face. One would wonder what kind of dream he was having. With this sort of shaking he caused, it was surprising that he didn't wake anyone up. Of course, apart from animals who are prone to the... strange reasons for the trembles, that weren't as simple as one would guess.
Everything went as if nothing happened afterward. Although, the animals were long gone from the surroundings of the cottage in the middle of the forest. The change happened when a new bright light appeared beyond the horizon.
Chirps of early birds squeaked outside as they finally got the courage to travel around this perimeter.
Zigmund didn't need to spend the whole night working or doing whatever those two went through. He enjoyed his early breakfast, which consisted of red-looking sauce, which he put on the bread. It was a strange mixture of herbs and a mush of berries. It tasted alright with a slight sweetness from the fruit.
Nothing disturbed his morning until his daughter came with a haggard appearance.
“What in the world you were doing the whole night?” He asked in a mocking tone.
“I couldn't fall asleep.” Sarey yawned.
“Did you spend the whole night with Allan? I swear when I see him...” Zigmund slammed his fist on the robust table.
“Wha..”
“Hahahhah. I am kidding. I am kidding. There is quite a beautiful day outside. It is soon to be a summer with this kind of pace.” Zigmund changed the topic with his rising amount of experience.
Sarey was unbothered by his shenanigans as she barely got some sleep. The sun was long up in the sky, so there was nothing else but to get up. Wasting time of the day on the bed wasn't her style. The last few days were quite hectic, and she could always take a nap somewhere in the day. This was called self-lie but nobody could judge her if no one knew it. Right?
Zigmund himself went through a lot of sleepless nights. Be it from the stress or excitement in the military or the loud noise of his newborn daughter. Though, it was no longer the case.
Sarey sat down and glanced at his father's meal. Expecting something for herself, she tried to take a piece of bread from his plate.
“I won't give you anything. Make your own,” he complained, not giving her a chance.
“Hmph! Not like it looks that good.”
“What? I am planning to include it in the breakfast menu in my restaurant. Does it not look appetizing enough?” Zigmund tried to bounce back with his words.
“Then try it. I bet no one will come during breakfast hours specifically for this sort of thing. Maybe include something else with this. It all looks like blood itself. You will mess with customers' appetites with this kind of meal. You know what I mean when I call this unappetizing-looking food.”
Zigmund, with an open mouth, looked at his plate, which still had a few remaining pieces. He looked almost like he was questioning reality itself as he came up with this himself. In truth, it was a tiny idea of Pedro, but he didn't have time to worry about complete inventions. Making a comment to his boss was more than enough.
“It tastes good, though.” He muttered and swallowed what remained in his mouth.
“What else is happening in your restaurant?” Sarey gave up trying to persuade him and rather asked about the work. Expecting the answer after a little while, she prepared her own meal.
“Nothing much. Pedro is in charge of more things now than ever. I am even thinking of giving him my position since he is such a good man.”
“I agree. He loves what he does.”
“I bet. Apart from it, nothing much. Though, there is something interesting, or bothersome coming our way. I did tell you about it later, but I wasn't sure back then. I've got some news a few days ago about some important people coming through this region. Not sure why or what for. Some officials from the Tri-Cloud alliance, or so I heard.”
“W-what? All the way here? That is quite rare, isn't it?” Sarey said, not making obvious her instant premonition of the plausible cause. It definitely involved the upcoming war conflicts. It could all mean that and nothing else since this town and its surroundings had plenty of resources that Tri-Cloud Region can use for their benefit.
Sarey knew no small amount of information about the current and past political situation in the region as a whole. Small pieces here and there about the whole continent were also something he forced from her teacher, Terg. One of the things that would be of huge importance would be a place a couple of 100 kilometers down to the south. There were majestic dunes of what appeared to be the finest powder made of rock. That was something she heard from mister Terg. Thousands of kilometers wide with no end near. It opened into an even larger plot of water she couldn't imagine.
Such stories were the norm from Teg's mouth, but there were the richest sources of Cobalt Iron, Obsidianite, Black Mitral, and many more.
Terg told her what he could, and those were the sort of stories that could open the mind of children. It also gradually increased in detail as she grew older in his tutelage. After all, Sarey spent a few years in his teachings while he grew up on her a little bit.
Tough, there were some things that were meant to end, and Terg and his disciple Triston left this region. Leaving Sarey to be, she would be a small part of their lives. Even Terg would think nothing of her, as a small acquaintance and a person who feared no fate.
Both of them made some small talk before falling into solemn silence. Each for similar reasons and their respective knowledge about the military and worldly conflicts.